The chicken with a choice

One of the first things I saw, while visiting the Second Home lodge,  was this scrawny little chicken roaming the place. Very confidently. It seemed at home there. Not afraid of the children, not afraid of the staff. Just very, very comfortable. Our manager Marie had this little chicks eye, wherever she went.

After laughing over this chicken catching flies (like a dog chasing its tail) and ants (nearly breaking its beak on the pavement) and sleeping on a self appointed bed (the handle bars of a wheelchair) for a couple of days, I asked Marie about this special chicken.

She happily shared the story. While picking up the brothers Ibrahim and Bakary at their home for the first time, their father gave Marie a chicken, as a thank you for the help Marie was offering him. Now this in itself is a very unusual thing and a reason for celebration. He was the first one of the parents to give us anything. Ever. He still gives Marie things for the home or the other children. Every single time the boys are picked up.

He told Marie the chicken was full of eggs. And surely enough. The chicken laid a large clutch of eggs at Second Home. They all hatched!

The little chicks and their mother where transported to a neighbours’ henhouse, to keep them safe. The children collect the eggs there each morning. Most of the chickens found the henhouse delightful and are very happy there.

Except one little chicken.

The morning after Marie brought the new chicks to the neighbors’  place, there it was. Outside of the door. Waiting for Marie. So, she fed the chicken some left over rice and took it back to the neighbours’ henhouse. The next day the chicken was waiting for her at the door again. She smiled and took the chicken back again.

This went on for four days. At which point, Marie gave in.

The little chicken is now very happily living at the lodge. Every morning Marie and the chicken have a conversation as the chicken has breakfast. The chicken is watching over Marie and Marie is watching over the chicken. It is part of the family now.

This chicken got to choose

What would I say?

Late yesterday evening. Well, it was actually really early today. Anyway, I read this blog. Written by one of my very favourite bloggers out there. I read her blog every week.

In this one, however, she asked a question that had me pondering all night. Sign of some really good writing, right there. What would you want on your tombstone? One last chance to change the world in a sentence.

Good question!

So, I thought about it. Reading her blog and her reasons for stating her epitaph (you have to read her blog for yourself to find out, I don't want to spoil it for you) over and over again.

My initial reaction? I don't want to be buried. So, no grave and no stone. No. I want to be turned to ashes and then given to the wind. So I can tap people on the shoulder as a little flake of ash. Maybe share a bit of their lives. Driven by the wind I will be going places. That is what I want.

But.

There is something like last words. A legacy. So the question remains.

What would I say to change the world?

Would I want something funny? Something like that guy from Disney? His stone reads:
"That's all folks" . 
Something that brings a smile to faces?
But what? Something like:
"Still quilting"
Somehow, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like a good use of those last words.
Something to sum up my life.....Well, that would still be the Still Quilting one.
No. A lesson than, for the future. Lessons learned in a (hopefully) long and wonderful life. Imagine?

And still, the question remains.

What would I say to change the world?

Something I believe in whole heartedly. Well, it is my legacy. So it would have to be right? But what?
People are essentially good.
You can be anything you want to be.
No. that would be an opening for a discussion. Which is fine in daily life, like Twitter.... Not as an epitaph.

The more I thought about it, the more it became clear to me that I already know what I want it to read. What I want people to know. The only thing that I can do for myself and wish upon others.

So are you ready?

Here it is:

Live lovingly!

If you live lovingly, it would be impossible to hate. It would be impossible to harm others. It would be the most normal thing in the world to help each other. To welcome the refugees. To tend the sick. To help the poor.

Now wouldn't that be an amazing legacy?


Lots of love,
Heleen

And then what?

As of this Sunday it is now six months after the first stroke. Yes. That is right. I had a second one exactly three weeks later. Again on a Sunday. This time I went to hospital with an ambulance wailing loudly and flashing its lights. The procedure in the hospital was basically the same.

The first one shook me up badly. The second one scared the @#$% out of me.
Literally.
The fear was so overwhelming that I could not move for weeks.

I was convinced that I would have another one, and then another one. Sundays were particularly scary. I was shaking uncontrollably over my entire body. So my family doctor gave me some tablets to calm down. Turns out, the shaking was a side effect of the medication I was given to lower my cholesterol. Funny that. I stopped taking them (on orders of a cardiologist) and a few days later I felt a lot better!

After the three weeks point had been met, I started to get a bit less scared. There where still a lot of tests to be done and doctors to see. So that was my start to the new year. Tests and hospital visits. They confirmed that I did have two strokes. Both had caused brain damage. As to the reason I had the strokes:

Nothing was found. 

I will say that again.

Nothing was found.

You would think that that is good news. And it is, obviously. But think about it. It happened out of the blue. Without any reason. So what would stop it happening again?

This is what it did to me. It made me fearful.

There were other things of course. My mouth was damaged, so I was biting my lip, cheek and tongue constantly. That got infected (since I didn't feel it, and did not pay attention to it). And the slurring of course. That too. And some difficulty swallowing. All that was corrected with speech therapy. Which is a lot more fun then you would think!

My arm was weaker. No feeling (but able to move, very important that) in my hand. That means I had to be careful with hot water and knives..... It is getting better.

My behaviour had completely changed. I became mean. Really mean. And I was combative. Fighting with everyone. That was one of the nice effects of the brain damage. Luckily, that has now gone. Completely. Well. I do have some sharper edges. But that is not a bad thing, most of the time.

I am still not smoking.

So. What did I do all that time? 
I quilted. What else would I be doing? I sat, and I quilted. It was good therapy for my hand too. Bonus!

So you can see the size. And the things I made people do for me! My poor dad and my neighbour......

.

In the hospital the second time, I started to put together the top for my mystery quilt. It doubled as a great big handkerchief. Soaking up all the tears nicely. Turns out, quilting helps with anxiety as well. I managed to put together the entire (2,50 x 2,50 meters) top in just six days. Yay for panic. I hand quilted it in six weeks. And now I sleep under it.

My cat likes helping me with hemming the binding.....

It is hard to get a good picture of such a large quilt!

I had loads of projects in between. A quilt for my other nephew, the new mystery, gifts (to make up for my behaviour). I will share all in the next weeks. I promise.

Till then.
Lots of love,
Heleen

You had a what?

I was supposed to go on a quilty retreat with my sister. Unfortunately, it turned out a little different. I had been feeling bad, since the day before. But I was not going to cancel our trip. Not bloody likely. 

My sister came to pick me up, looked at me and said. I am not taking you anywhere. The corner of your mouth is drooping down and you have a slurr in your speech.

So we called the doctor. He wanted to see me immediately. I still was oblivious of what was happening. My doctor thought "it would be a good idea for a neurologist to take a look". Also fine. Then we could get in the car and start our journey right after that.

We didn't have to wait in the hospital. A doctor was waiting for us at the door and I was shoved onto a bed. With astonishing speed a load of tests were done. CT scan, blood tests, can you touch this, do you feel that.....

I had to stay. Just for the night. I send a whatsapp to my family, stating that the reason they were keeping me was purely to prevent any claims for damages in the future. 

They kept me on the stroke unit the entire night. A calm space. Lots of white. A place where you don't really know that time is still passing. A place where they could keep a close eye on me. Wires, sticky patches, things going beep and pling, blowing themselves up and deflating again. In the course of the night, some of the controls where reduced. All that noise did mean I could not follow their well meant advice (Get some rest).

In the morning, several people appeared at my bedside. The bed I was still nog allowed to leave.

I was still convinced that nothing serious was going on. They probably needed the beds filled and I was going home that day.

Then the neurologist came by. This was high, that was too low, the next thing not completely right and my mouth was still drooping down. She looked at me and very calmly and clearly told me: 

You have suffered a stroke. That is why your mouth is drooping and you have trouble speaking. 

I couldn't speak for a moment. This was not what I was expecting at all. I was not allowed to go home. I was going to have to be monitored. Perhaps tomorrow.

My parents came to see me. Tears started to flow. I could not explain why or why I  could not stop. I just wept. For a long time. And then I felt better.

Later that day I was moved to a regular ward. Thank heavens. Other colours then white. The nurses where great. I was even allowed to go to the bathroom by myself.

Peeing with the door closed. Bliss.

So I had a stroke. At 43. Tests are going to follow to see what happened, and where and why. I was allowed to go home on Wednesday, with a load of pills and appointments.

I am as well as can be expected. The droopy mouth is correcting itself. I do the exercises. Talking is only difficult when tired. Which makes everything difficult. Concentrating is very difficult too. Looking out the window is fine too. I am still very tired.

For the good news: 

I stopped smoking on Monday. It is now Friday and I have not smoked.

Happy mail

Some weeks are just amazing! I had gone to my hoard enabler last week. And before you start, I had to go! There was a new edition of Homespun waiting for me! So, I really did not have a choice.....

Now, that was a fun visit. I signed up for a new mystery quilt......My sixth one in a row! The latest one will end next month, when we finally get the instructions to put it together. So, you see....I did not really have choice there either! It provides me with at least on piece of great mail every month. Besides the fun of watching it come together of course!

When I came home there was mail waiting for me. Two envelopes! Both from THE STATES!



Enigmatic!

The first envelope contained my winnings from the Hexi Hop! Just look at those exquisite FOLDED hexies! Now, I have to find a tutorial to do that too! She even included a half hexie ruler! 

 Thank you so much Deonn! I absolutely LOVE my gift! I will show of anything I make with these goodies!


The second envelope contained a pattern! Another gift! This one from Vicky . I had commented on her entry for the Hexie Hop. I loved her pincushion. And she send me the pattern!

How sweet is that?

I also received an email this week..... I am being allowed to test a pattern! So a trip to the local fabric shop was in order there too!



All in all, I've had a fantastic week. When it comes to quilting.....there are enablers everywhere and boy, am I grateful for them all!

Lots of love,
Heleen

Mystery time!

With all the sunshine that has been falling on us here..... I admit freely that the last thing I have been wanting to do was blog! I wanted to be outside..... stitching. I will try to keep you updated a bit more, though .... I think....

All these pictures show my progress on the mystery quilt by Françoise Maarsse. Find out more details here.
Still two more parts of the mystery to be revealed, but I am completely up to date now!

Four of these in total. Little borders.... but where will they go?

These are really hard to photograph! They are waaaay to big to fit anywhere!

All four together.... imaging half of them again, that is their actual size!
The garden fence isn't big enough!

Where there is a quilt..... there has to be a cat, right?
My monster thinks so, anyway!

Four of these too.... borders again.

More to come in other posts! If there is any where you live, enjoy the sunshine and have a wonderful day!

Lots of love,

Heleen

Welcome one and all!

Especially to all you Ho-Ho-Ho hoppers! 

First a huge thank you to Mme Sam and Carol for hosting yet another fabulous bloghop!

So, I had been procrastinating. A lot. More to the point; I didn't feel like Christmas lately. So I planned a week. A week with nothing else to do then

CHRISTMAS!

I started by compiling a list of what I would like to do this week. This involved much research..... I read through a pile of magazines and books, while stretched out in the sun.

Of course, this was the week that a genuine heatwave smothered our little country. Go figure. But, who cared about that, when inside the snow was falling and the log fire was burning. Well, metaphorically that is. Not really! That would be silly.

Are you ready? Here we go.

All the completed projects in a huge pile!

Yes. All that in one week! I started of with some trees. Just to get in the spirit of things.

 After the trees, I had to add some mice.

 Both patterns were in a book by Tilda. Jul.

I love them!

Next came some birds. With bells. So they are pretty noisy! Five of them form the doorhanger.

Some Christmas baubles. I made four of these and they are HUGE! Both the birds and the baubles I found in Simply Vintage, the autumn 2012 publication.

Then, something to get the turkey out of the oven safely.... My own pattern (if you can call it that). There is a little bell on there, so everyone can hear when that big bird is done!

So, where there is an oven mitt there has to be an apron! I found an excellent tutorial for the apron here.

And then lastely, the board. This is another pattern from Simply Vintage. The mistake you can see was completely mine.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my Christmas projects. I know I did. Go and see all the other hoppers today and make sure to let them know how much you love their projects!

August 1

Vroomans Quilts

Abyquilt

MacDonald’s Patch

Life and Everthing Around It

Hill Valley Quilter

Traveling Quilter

Quilting Lines

The Reluctant Quilter

Pig Tales and Quilts

Teatime Creations

Ravelly1

Lots of love,
Heleen